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Eriosyce esmeraldana (The almost spineless form from
Esmeralda)
If you like deep purple-bodied plants, you simply must get it (if
you haven't already).
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Cultivation: It
is a summer-growing species. Water regularly
in summer, but do not over-water
(rot prone).
It needs good drainage and very a porous potting soil Keep
dry in winter.
Feed with a high potassium
fertilizer in summer.
Full sun to light shade
Propagation: Seeds
(seldom produces offsets)
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Family:
Cactaceae (Cactus
Family)
Scientific name: Eriosyce
esmeraldana (F. Ritter) Kattermann
in: Eriosyce (Cactaceae)
The genus revised and amplified 1: 119, 1994
Origin: Chile,
Along the cost from Pan de Azúcar Natinal Park South to Esmeralda
Habitat: They strive
in granitic hills, few km. from the sea. Some plants grow (and sunk) in
flat lands or on soft slopes, only in sand (eventually with little rocks
and quartz) while others lives in rocky slopes, between cracks. They
grows along with Copiapoa longistaminea.
Conservation status: Listed in
CITES appendix 2.
Synonyms:
- Chileorebutia
esmeraldana F. Ritter 1963
- Neochilenia
esmeraldana (F. Ritter) Backeberg 1963
- Neoporteria
esmeraldana (F. Ritter) Donald & G.D. Rowley 1966
- Thelocephala
esmeraldana (F. Ritter) F. Ritter 1980
- Eriosyce occulta
subsp. esmeraldana
- Eriosyce odieri v.
esmeraldana
- Neochilenia occulta
- Neoportieria occulta
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Description: Eriosyce
esmeraldana is a tiny geophytic , spineless
(or spiny) plant usually
solitary or sometime branching.
Stems: Flattened, mostly underground,
the unusual colouring ranges fromdark
green to purplish-brown, 3-4 cm in diameter (but up to 6 cm in
cultivation).
Ribs: 13-22, dissolved into ± rounded tubercles.
Root: Long turbiniform conical taproot,
Spines: Almost spineless or with 5-7 short, thin, needle like
spines, 3-5 mm long. The spineless form
is more popular with collectors
Flowers: Apical, yellow (greenish) or reddish, 2-3 cm long and
wide. Black bristles and dense wool cover the floral tube and pericarpel.
Fruit: Ovoidal, dry with a thin wall and dehiscing by a basal
pore.
Individual plants of this species shows a
certain degree of variability depending on origin, The plant found from
north of Pan de Azucar,
arriving to Esmeralda, are mostly with white spines. The plants at north
of Esmeralda have usually black spines. While in Esmeralda most of the
plants are spineless.
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